Mexico To Raise Fishing Development Spending

MEXICO Mexico has said it is to spend more than four billion pesos this year on developing the fishing industry.

The expenditure will be a 10.8 per cent increase from last year, the Agriculture, Fishing and Ranching Secretariat said.

According to a report in the Latin American Herald Tribune, funds provided to the National Aquaculture and Fishing Commission, or Conapesca, will be used for “the sustainable development and organisation of the fishing and aquaculture industry,” the secretariat said.

About 2.43 billion pesos - 61 per cent, of the budget - will support competitiveness through the Productive Assets and Structural Problems Management programmes.

The National Inspection and Monitoring Programme and the Agricultural Areas Electric Infrastructure Program, or PIEZA, both of which focus on the environment, will get 650 million pesos the Herald Rtibune report says.

The report adds that the government wants to restructure the fishing and aquaculture industry in Mexico.

Environmental protection will be a priority of fisheries policy in 2011 as well as providing support for purchases of marine fuel.

The agriculture industry accounts for about 3.6 percent of Mexico’s gross domestic product and employs 12 per cent of the labor force, the National Statistics and Geography Institute said in a recent report.